


The Secret Promise

by qiaolians



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Dialogue, Comfort/Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 09:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6233776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qiaolians/pseuds/qiaolians
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if it had been Melinda May who died at the Battle of New York?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Secret Promise

**Author's Note:**

> So, http://mxnicareyes.tumblr.com/ prompted me a few days ago with "What if Melinda had died, how Coulson would react?" and that's what I've come up with. Sorry if it's too angst. Also, I didn't follow the canon completely. (:
> 
> Takes place in Season 1 and prior.

They’ve been friends pretty much their whole lives. More than friends, partners. Ever since the first day at The Academy, when they met, Phil and Melinda knew they would be each other’s right arms.

Throughout the years, a lot of mission were completed, a lot of emotions were felt, but they were always side by side.

“You know you are not getting rid of me, don’t you?” Phil told her one day after they had a stupid fight that neither of them can remember what was about.

Melinda simply nodded and said “Don’t you dare walk out of my life.” He knew she meant it.

Somehow, after all this time together, they never really talked about theirs feelings towards each other. Maybe it was so intense that they both knew they would not be prepared to deal with it alongside SHIELD. Not talking about it was the only option. Instead, they preferred to only show each other their feelings with simple actions throughout their lives.

Phil still remembers the day they rescued an agent from a warehouse. They guy was their friend, they had met at The Academy as well.

The mission was simple, retrieve information as always but somehow it got more complicated than that. The only thing they knew by the end of it, was that they were pulling a pretty beaten up and tortured former colleague from a unknown place. That shocked both of them. They had never been in this kind of situation with one another.

Somehow, seeing a person they knew struggle to get closure with what came with the job was difficult. They never spoke about the difficulties that came with it. They never thought at the possibility of not coming back home one day. They couldn’t.

“So, is he gonna be okay?” Phil asked later that day when they arrived at the base.

“I don’t know, the doctors didn’t say anything yet.” She replied, looking to the ground.

“Did you see his eyes when we found him? It looked like…”

“He had given up.” She completed his line of thought.

After that, they both just waited for the news about their colleague. They just hoped they would never come to this.

 

 

“Guess what?” A rather smiley Melinda asked him when she entered his office.

“What?”

“Andrew proposed last night.” She said, taking a seat in front of him.

“Huh…” Was the only thing he managed to say.

Phil never thought he would see Melinda marrying someone. He never thought any of them could have that.

He knew she was dating a guy, Doctor Andrew Garner. They had met at a mission apparently. The guy was a pretty renowned psychiatrist. He doubted Melinda would feel attracted to a guy that made his life out of analyzing people, Melinda hated speaking about her problems, about her feelings. Why would she be with him? He made a life out of hearing people and she didn’t speak. So why?

She waited until he would give her a real answer.

“So… what did you say?”

“I said ‘yes’, why wouldn’t I?”

That hurt a little. Maybe a lot more than he had anticipated.

“I’m happy for you, then.”

He was, he really was. Maybe not the way he wanted to be, but deep down, he wanted her to be happy with Andrew.

Melinda did married Andrew. He was a nice guy indeed, Phil had to give it to him. Melinda deserved to be treated the way she was being by Andrew.

A couple of years passed since that afternoon when he listened to his best friend say ‘I do.’ At the altar.

They still worked together and Phil was practically part of the May-Garner household. He considered Andrew a friend, a good friend.

“Hey, do you have a minute?” She was mirroring that day a few years back.

“Sure, come in.” Phil said, pulling himself out a little bit from his paper on the desk.

Melinda approached without a word.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”

“Then what?”

“Andrew and I were thinking… About having a baby.”

“Oh, you sure? That’s a big step.” He knew May always wanted to be a mom. Something about correcting the so called mistakes she thought her mother had made with her.

“I think so. You know I always wanted to be a mother…” Phil laughed at little bit inside. “And Andrew will make a good father.”

“Yes, he will.” He was trying to be happy for her. “Come here.” He said, standing and opening his arms.

“Ugh, Coulson… No need to be so sentimental.” She protested but walked into the embrace.

He laughed and started rubbing circles on her back. “You know that’s not possible.”

“I know.” She smiled and hugged him back.

“You know you need to tell O’brien, right?”

“Yes. But not now. After Bahrain I will let him know and then I can start planning ahead. But I’ll stay in the field though.”

He smiled at her. Of course Melinda would stay in the field. She was born for the job, Phil didn’t know anyone better than her at kicking ass.

“Should we go? I think we take off in an hour.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

At the Bus, they were briefed about the mission, it was something they haven’t had much contact before, but Melinda was always confident on their missions. That always gave Phil extra confidence too.

The mission went well. Well as far as they could say. It had been tough but with the help of the cavalry, they managed.

Melinda was packing her things already when she heard a knock on the door.

“Hey!”

“Hi. What’s up?”

“Mission was pretty crazy, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“So, I was talking to Fury. He has a new initiative that he’s putting every dime on.”

“What kind of initiative?”

“Earth’s Mightiest type of thing…”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And he wants the best team with him… I know you have the whole ‘mom planning’ going on but…”

“I’m staying in the field, Coulson.”

“Good. Good.”

“Agent Melinda May, reporting for duty, sir.”

He smiled. He knew he could always count on her.

 

 

“Agent down!”

All the agents heard in their coms. Suddenly it clicked to Phil and he ran.

When he arrived at the room, he saw May leaned against a wall, breathing hard.

“Melinda…”

“Sorry, boss…” She said struggling to breath at the same time. She managed a little smile to reassure him. Her chest had a nasty cut on it.

Phil analyzed the whole scene before he made his conclusion. She had take it upon her to stop Loki, to save all the lives on the helicarrier. That’s one of the main reasons she was called to this mission. Melinda was always the containment unit. The faster and most skilled agent. Expect this time it wasn’t enough.

He couldn’t help to notice, that despite her being in this situation, fighting for her life, Loki wasn’t in the room. She had fought until pretty much her last breath, because that’s what his Melinda always did. She would give everything not to engage into a fight, but she would give even more not to loose it.

“Hey, stay with me…” He said, feeling her pulse and pushing a string of her hair behind her ear. “Just stay awake, eyes on me…” He was trying to hold back his tears as well.

“I’m not gonna make it, Phil…”

“Not an option!”

“It’s okay, Phil… This was never gonna work if they didn’t have so-something… to…” And that was it. She struggled to get the last words out and suddenly her eyes just froze, her chest stopped and Phil felt himself starting to panic.

“No… May… Melinda…” He said, caressing her cheeks.

Part of him remembered that day when they pulled their friend out of the tortuous mission. That day they realized how easy things could go south. How exposed they always were in the field. Somehow, both tried to think it was never going to happen to them. Until this day.

“Please, don’t leave me…” He felt a tear wetting his cheek. “You promised… please…”

 

 

 Phil was nervous. Several days after the Battle of New York passed. He tried to move on with his life but something was missing, someone was missing.

His relationship with Audrey had stopped working out. They had a talk one day and both realized they were better off as friends. And that was it, Phil was by himself again, living for SHIELD.

Walking through the corridors of the base, he felt his hands sweat.

“Hey, Agent Coulson. Big day, huh?” An agent said to him as they passed each other.

“Yeah…” Was the only thing Phil managed to let out.

He came to a stop at a door that read “Fury, Nicholas J. – Director of SHIELD.” And at that moment he felt his heart stop.

Two knocks. “Come in, agent.”

Phil opened the door looking to the ground. Even though he had convinced himself he was ready to this moment, he couldn’t make himself look up.

“It’s good to have you back, Agent May.” He heard the director saying and at this moment he realized everything was true.

Every word the director had said to him about the TAHITI PROJECT was true. Proof of that was his best friend standing between him and Fury.

“Thank you, sir.”

Phil couldn’t say anything, couldn’t move.

“You are dismissed, Agent May. Welcome back.” Fury said to her before shaking her hand and walking behind his desk.

Melinda just nodded. Turning around, it was the first time she saw Phil. She was aware that another agent had entered the room but she hadn’t figured out who was the agent.

 _I must really be rusty._ She thought to herself.

“Hey, May. It’s good to have you back.” He said as she walked near him.

She smiled. “Thanks, Phil. Talk to you later?”

He nodded.

Melinda exited the office and closed the door.

“She looks good.” Phil said taking a seat in front of the director.

“She does.” Fury said, trying to analyze the agent that stood in front of him. “And she can’t ever know.”

Phil swallowed had and nodded.

“Do you know why she really came here?”

“No, sir.”

“She just came to ask me to put her back in the field.” Fury had a straight face on. Like he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“Sounds like her.”

“Do you think this is a joke, Agent?”

“No, sir. Not at all. But I knew Agent May wouldn’t hold long in the Administration. She was born to the field, sir.

“And she also died in the field, Agent.” Fury said firmly, making Phil look to the ground.

_Yeah, I know she died. Part of myself died too._

Fury let out a breath.

“I want you to assemble a new team. A mobile unit. You’ll take care of the small and less dangerous stuff of this agency.”

Phil nodded.

“I want you to keep both eyes on her.”

“I will.”

“Good. Here’s you assessments. Choose good. Remember what Agent May was capable of before.”

Phil nodded again.

“Dismissed, agent.”

Phil gathered the files and starting walking to the door.

“Phil, she can’t ever know.” Fury said one last time.

“I know, Nick.” He said with his back turned to the director. “I know.” He walked out of the office.

 

 

He found her at the gym kicking and punching.

“It’s good to have you back.”

She smiled. “It’s good to be back.”

“How was Tahiti?” He asked with a little bit of exitation.

“It’s a magical place.” She replied and his heart almost stopped.

“So I heard.”

“You should go sometime. I thought a vacation like that wasn’t for me, but it was good. Apparently that’s what you gain for dying, isn’t it?”

“What matters is that you are back.” He hugged her. He couldn’t handle all of the emotions. If she ever find out, will she ever forgive him?

 _I’m doing it for her. To protect her._ He convinced himself.

“Have you talked to him?” She asked in his chest, the words barely coming out.

“Huh?” Phil pulled himself out of his thoughts.

“Andrew…”

“Yeah, I was the one who gave him the news…”

Having to tell Andrew Garner that his wife was killed in action was maybe one of the hardest things Phil has ever done.

At first, Andrew was in denial. He couldn’t believe that his very skilled wife had died like that.

“I’m sorry, Andrew. There was nothing we could do.”

He nodded. “We were trying to have a kid, you know?” He managed to say. “She would have been a great mother.”

“I know…” Was the only thing Phil could say.

At that time, he wasn’t sure what was going to happen to Melinda. Fury hadn’t discussed much but he knew she had signed the papers that said she was up to anything that could give her one more chance of a normal life.

Little she knew that her life was never going to get back to normal again.

“How did he take it?” She asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

“Hey.” He put his hands on both sides of her face. “Don’t do this to yourself.”

She nodded. “At least my parents can know.” She reasoned.

“Yeah, Fury decided your mom had clearance enough to know it. And your dad was married to her for a long time, so, the same.”

She nodded again and got back to punching more.

“Are you sure you are ready to get back in the field?”

“Phil, I know you don’t want me to see action. But I don’t think I’ll manage to be in Administrations one more day. Now that all of this happened, I have to give my life some meaning.”

He smiled at her. Maybe she was still the same Melinda. Maybe nothing had changed.

 

 

After quite some time of working together on the Bus, Phil was almost certain that Melinda was the same from before. Maybe she was a little bit more careful with risking herself and the life of the others, but deep down, he looked at her and still saw his best friend from The Academy.

It was already late, the crew was already asleep after a rough mission and he knew The Bus was in autopilot. That would be perfect to check on her.

Getting to her bunk, he saw Melinda seating at the bed with some papers in her hand. He just leaned at the door.

“Is everything okay?”

She didn’t seem startled by his presence.

“Yes. My doctor just asked for some more tests.”

Phil frowned and decided to step in, closing the door behind him.

“Melinda, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t respond.

“I know that every time you had to do you routine checkups you kept running from the doctors of SHIELD. Tell me what’s wrong?”

“I died.” She said in a low tone.

“An experience like that it… takes a while to sink in.”

“My doctor’s never requested any tests… I ordered them for myself. But, you knew that.”

He nodded.

“This piece of paper tells me everything is fine, but… I don’t feel fine. I feel different.”

Phil didn’t know what to say. All of this time he was tricking himself about thinking Melinda was still the same as before because he needed it, he never really thought how she was doing. Maybe he had, but couldn’t admit that the strongest person he knew was struggling with something. And the worst thing about all of this, was that he couldn’t help, he had to seat back and watch until something went wrong.

He took a few steps until he reached her, lending a hand towards her. Melinda, whom hadn’t looked at him all of this time in the conversation, allowed herself to take his hand and stand, now looking at him directly in the eyes. Those wonderful blue eyes that always calmed her in some way.

Phil carefully let go of her hand and aimed for the zipper of her vest, pulling it down and letting it fall open. Melinda tried to even her breath, trusting her best friend.

When it was open to the half, Phil could see about one fourth of the scar she carried around.

He took her right hand and guided it to her chest, putting her hand right on top of the scar, making her fingers lightly brush that part that was sticking out. After that, he laid his hand on top of hers, making sure to apply a little pressure so she could feel it all. All the energy he was trying to pass to her to make sure it was okay to feel that way.

Melinda closed her eyes and took a long breath before looking at him again.

“Whether it was eight seconds or forty, you died. There’s no way you can go through a trauma like that and not come out of it changed…” She could see some tears in his eyes right now, and she was sure she had some in hers as well. “The point of these things it to remind us that there’s no going back. There’s only moving forward. You feel different, because you are different.”

She nodded and smiled a little bit. It was good for her to know she had someone who could understand, someone she could talk about all that had happened. Phil had something in him that even when she didn’t want to talk, she ended up letting go and opening her heart.

He smiled back. He wanted to kiss her now and reassure that everything was going to be alright.

They hugged after, and Phil felt his heart beat faster. No matter what happened, he would take care of her.

 

 

 

All the shit had gone down. Melinda discovered about how she came back to life and had punched half of the things in her bunk to the ground.

Phil didn’t know what to do except update the director about it. Deep down, with all that had happened and with the team they’ve been working with, he knew it was just a matter of time.

Now, most of the days, Melinda had spent locked in the cockpit piloting The Bus. Phil knew it was fairly dangerous to let her alone like that.

To be fair, everybody on the team had gone worried about Agent May. They knew she was a legend. Fighting a God from another world and living (kind of) to tell the story was not something that everybody could do.

That’s why when Fitz was running some diagnosis on The Bus and found an encrypted line direct to Coulson’s office, he panicked.

Running to tell Skye, they both didn’t know what to do. Thinking about all the Hydra threat they’ve been fighting on and off, they decided it was better to have some back up on that since the supposed leader of them was a suspect.

“Cut it, Fitz!” Skye had said to him before they went to May.

“What? Are you mad?”

“No, look, it’s active. Cut it now.”

He did it. Fitz cut the line right when Coulson was starting to inform his data to update the Log Fury had ordered him to.

Sensing something was wrong, Phil pulled his ICER and started to descend the stairs to check if he had someone tailing him.

Right after cutting the line, Skye and Fitz made a run to the cockpit, telling May what had just happened. May could feel her anger built up. How could he? A secure line? To whom? Was Phil leading them to the enemies side all of this time? She trusted him and now this. May ordered to the younger agents to take cover in in the lab and lock it down.

Making her way through the plane with her gun in hand, a million thoughts rushed through her mind. She checked Phil’s office but he wasn’t there anymore. She then made her way to the back, knowing she was approaching the confront.

From the top of the stairs she saw Coulson looking for someone whit his ICER in hand. Right when Fitz closed the door for the lab, he turned and fired two warning shots.

“Put it down, Coulson!” She said, aiming at him.

“It’s not what you think, May. It’s just an ICER.”

“This one is not. It’s real, with real bullets so you better put yours down and tell me what’s going on right now.”

“I…”

“NOW!” May yelled. She never yelled. She always believed that it was impressive how much you could get when you quietly, calmly, firmly demanded it. But right now, her anger was boiling up. Phil understood that.

“I can’t…” He tried to say calmly.

“You better listen to the woman, Agent Coulson.” Skye said from the corner, also pointing a gun at him.

Now he felt really disappointed at himself. Not only his best friend was doubting him but the younger agent that he took under his wing as well.

“You have no idea what you’re doing.” He tried to explain Skye.

“Maybe not, but I know you are not fast enough to take us both.” The younger said. She was actually considering sacrificing herself for May so they could end this?

At that, Phil assessed his options and decided to give in.

“Look…” He said, putting his hand in the air admitting his defeat. “I can explain everything. But not here.”

“Why not here?” Melinda asked, she was sure eager to know why her best friend who a couple of days back had just comforted her about everything that happened, was now having this sort of behave. “You have to check with someone first? Who is on the other end of that line, Coulson?”

“I can’t say.”

“Who do you answer to?”

At this point, The Bus made a sudden turn, making all of them stay out of balance. Realizing that the plane was now rerouted, May pointed her gun at him again, now looking more pissed than ever.

“What have you done to my plane? Where are we going?” She asked him.

 “I don’t know, I didn’t do it, May. I don’t know what’s happening here, I swear.”

“If you are not doing this, then who is?”

He didn’t know. He really didn’t know. This was way out of control to Phil and now he was a suspect to his team.

“Drop your weapon…”

“Melinda…”

“Drop the damn weapon and kick it over the stairs now. Now!”

He did it as he was told.

May descended the stairs and took the gun he was holding, pointing at him alongside Skye.

“Talk!”

“I didn’t set this new course, I swear.”

“DON’T LIE TO ME.”

“HQ can override automatic control of the avionics. Take us anywhere they want.” He explained. Of course only he knew that. And he knew that made May more pissed, how could he ask her to pilot the plane and not let her know that at any point someone could just take that off of her. “It’s not me.” He reassured.

“Why did you had an encrypted hard line?”

“Let’s take a breath.” Phil said trying to calm everyone now.

“Let’s not.” Melinda said, angrier, taking a step towards him.

“It was a dedicated channel to Director Fury. That’s the truth.”

“Director Fury?” Suddenly it was clicking in.

“You were reporting to him?” Skye asked, trying to understand the situation.

“That’s all I can tell you.”

“That’s all you can tell us?” Melinda asked in disbelief.

“I’m under orders.”

At this, Melinda lost her temper and shot him with the ICER. Part of her regretted immediately when Phil’s body collapsed on the floor. Skye and Fitz were shocked that the agent actually had the guts to do it. But she couldn’t take it anymore, her head was spinning a million times, he heart seemed like it was going to come out through her mouth. She needed some time. She needed to put her head in the game.

“Fitz, can you repair the line?”

“Yeah.”

“Then do it.”

 

 

So, that was the situation: she didn’t have control of The Bus, she didn’t quite know what was waiting for them at the HQ and Coulson was laying unconscious and handcuffed somewhere. This was already far more stress than Melinda had intended to go through.

When Fitz told her the line was intact and ready, she made her way to Coulson.

Entering the cage, she saw that he was already awake.

“Fitz repaired your direct line. If you have the ability to make this right, now’s the time.” She warned him through clenched teeth. “Cause you can’t make it worse.”

Phil got up and they walked in silence to his office. At this moment, The Bus started to land on its destiny.

“I have orders not to do this with anyone else present.”

“They are taking out our guns. Get Director Fury on the line or I’ll march you out there first.” She was having none of his conversation.

Phil decided to do it already. There was no point in holding on.

“Agent Philip J. Coulson, voice command emergency protocol one, emergency protocol one.” After this, the phone started ringing on the other side, Phil grew a little bit worried, he never had to wait before.

 _“Hello.”_ Said a voice at the other end of the line.

“This is an X-1-0 straight connection to Director Fury’s personal line. Where is he?” Now he was definitely worried, and Melinda couldn’t stop looking at him with a quite worried look as well.

 _“Director Fury is dead.”_ Said the voice.

He didn’t have the time to process the information when the outside agents started shooting at them.

One bullet hit him straight in the arm and Melinda ducked them both, pulling her gun out and embracing him. Even after feeling betrayed, Phil felt that she wasn’t going to let him hanging. She was going to protect him, just like he swore he would protect her.

The agents proceeded to shoot the entire plane for some time, May even thought it was until their guns ran out of ammo.

When they stopped, she and the team knew it was a matter of time until they could get in.

When she saw that Phil’s arm was bleeding nonstop from the bullet, she decided she would make some more time to at least try to set all of this straight.

“May… you have to believe me. That was his direct line.” He tried to explain while she tried to pull the bullet off.

“So it’s real. That means it’s just you and me. Unless there were other parties you reported to.”

“There weren’t.” He said, grunting as she pulled the bullet off of his arm in one motion.

“Now come out with it. If Fury’s gone we are being shot out by our own people.”

He took a deep breath. He owed her this.

“Fury knew you were going to want to get back in the field. He asked me to keep an eye on you.” He started. Now it seemed to him it wasn’t really a good idea assembling all of this or even allowing May to get back in the field, to see action again.

“Why?” She asked, not sure if she wanted to know. _I feel different…_ suddenly got back to her head. The words she had said to him a few days back.

“To look for signs of physical or mental deterioration. It was just to keep him updated. It’s that simple.” It sounded like he was pleading her to believe him. And he was. He couldn’t afford to lose her again.

Melinda seemed shocked now.

“Did you know about TAHITI?”

He looked to the ground, ashamed of himself.

“How could you do that to me?” She wasn’t even angry anymore. She was hurt. “After all we’ve been through? The years we spent together in ops?”

“He said it was essential, you couldn’t know, Melinda.”

This time her anger came back. How could he?

She let him seated on the table and took a few steps back because otherwise she would punch him. That’s what she told herself.

Phil let himself out of the table and went for her.

“Melinda, please believe me… I didn’t want to hurt you. I just wanted to give you a second chance. That’s why I assembled this team…”

“I assembled this team.” She shot back at him. Yes, she did it. She remember when they handled her the files of many agents for her to choose with whom she wanted to work with.

“No, Melinda…” Oh boy, another confess, which meant another lie.

“What?” Now she really wanted to punch him.

“I evaluated what was needed and I gave the assessment to Fury and he gave you the parameters for this unit.” He looked sorry for the amount of lies between them. “I knew how your mind worked. I knew who you would choose based on your skills and your routine in the field.”

“What was needed?” She decided now she wanted to know everything.

“Someone who could repair your body. A technician who could repair your brain and a specialist to put you down if it had to be done.” He laid all the cards on the table.

Melinda looked defeated, she looked like she didn’t know what was going on. Was her comeback worth of all of this? Maybe she was better off dead. Of all the things she had gone through since she came back, she couldn’t imagine been in this situation with Phil.

She had to let go of her dream life, she lad to let go of her dream about being a mother, she had to let go of her husband. But when she came back and saw Phil, someone she knew all her life and someone she could actually talk about all she had gone through, she saw herself a little bit more in peace.

Now, to understand that all of this had a major price… She didn’t know if she was prepared.

Deep down, she felt sorry for Phil as well. Even though she was angry to the point she could punch him all day for hiding all of this, she was sorry that he had to go through it all just because of her.

She was used to protect him before she died. She was the one who would always watch his back.

“Take care of her, Phil” Andrew would said before their missions together.

“She is supposed to take care of me.” Phil always laughed in response.

They always joked about but that was the truth. Melinda was used and comfortable about being the strong one that would always take the chances and protect her loved ones if needed. She was the one who would keep him safe.

Now, she was just one vulnerable person. She didn’t feel like herself. She was the one needing protection. Maybe even from herself.

Suddenly she felt a pair of hands on either side of her arms, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Melinda…”

She closed her eyes, feeling a single tear run through her cheek.

“I didn’t do it for Fury. I did it for, to protect you… I…” He said and realized how emotional he was getting.

He made her turn and look at her. Brushing the tears out of her face with his thumbs, he wanted to show her he meant those words.

“You mean a lot to me. A lot.” He said holding her chin up to look at him. “To hear you were dead… Melinda, I love you.” He decided to finally admit it, after all, is she was hating him, he didn’t have much to lose, he had to let her know.

Her eyes widened when she heard those words. They had never admitted that to each other and they knew why. That day in the hospital when they waited for their colleague was an eternal reminder and still, Phil had just broke their secret promise.

“You may not believe me but that’s the truth. And I have nothing to do with this Hydra threat we are up against.” He thought this was a good moment to reinforce that even though he had lied to her, he would never betray her to this level. “Hopefully, this helps prove that.” He said, nodding to his arm that now had a bandage on.

Her head was spinning a lot faster now after all of these declarations. Phil was everything she had now. And everything her heart wanted.

“I wanna believe you, but you used this against me this whole time…” She said in a low voice, she was clearly tired of all of this.

He nodded and took a step back, getting his hands out of her. It was okay to him, he knew he had screwed it up and it would take time to get everything right with her. He would take it. Having time to do the right thing was better than having no time at all.

“I love you too, you know…” She said looking direct at him.

He was shocked, more than she had been when he declared himself to her.

“I tried to deny. Tried to tell myself you didn’t feel the same, but…”

He took a step forward and hugged her with all his strength. The hug was a promise that they would go through all of this together, like they always did.

The plane was under attack, the last few hours had been hell and the future was uncertain, but all of this was forgotten as soon as his arms wrapped around her and she leaned on the embrace.

There was a lot more water that would have to go under that bridge and they both knew it. But this few minutes they had alone, were a promise that things were going to work out.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is welcome. (:


End file.
